After being on Twitter for less than an entire year, the Journalism Twitter account recently gained more than 500 followers. I feel this is quite an accomplishment and am humbled by the number of people who follow all of the information we send to our students and alumni. On behalf of the Journalism Department, I thank you for following, interacting and retweeting us for the past year. It has been incredible to watch our online presence grow a little bit every day.

Some of our 500+ followers on Twitter.

I thought it would be interesting to highlight some unique accounts that are following the Journalism Department. It’s not just members of the Fox Valley that want to see what is going on in the Journalism Department and read what our students have to say. Sometimes it’s well-known PR pros, national news stations or even local celebrities. Here are a few of the 500 people following us on Twitter:

@ErinDavi5: Erin Davisson, anchor on WFRV-Channel 5 is one of the local TV personalities that have been checking out our tweets. Erin not only reports the news on TV, but also through her personal Twitter account. Follow her to learn more about local news as well as social media.

@wfrv5: Speaking of Channel 5, WFRV is one of several news stations that follow us, including WBAY and FOX 11. Follow any of these accounts to get timely information about breaking news, previews of upcoming newscasts and more.

@prsarahevans: Sarah Evans is a public relations specialist from Chicago and one of the social media leaders on Twitter. She tweaked the idea of hashtags to change Twitter into a virtual industry chat, including creating #journchat, a chat about all things journalism. Follow her to find interesting articles about social media, news, public relations and the sporadic story about celebrity gossip. She has one of those blue “Verified Account” check marks. Yeah. She’s a big deal.

@rozzy: Ryan Osborn is the social media director at NBC. He is always tweeting about the newest trends in social media and technology, so if you want to learn about the coolest new sites and applications before your friends, he’s the one to watch.

@NBCNews: That’s right. The NBC News is following the J-Dept. But not just the department. You too. All of your tweets we retweet, your blog posts that you write – NBC sees them. NBC has about 75,000 followers, but only follows a little more than 1,000 tweeters. Nice.

Feel free to look at our followers, and who we are following, to find new sources of information about the world of journalism. And if you aren’t a Facebook fan yet, make sure to “like” us to see daily updates, photos and more.

But what about you? Who are your favorite tweeters? Have any interesting people following you on Twitter? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Professor Mike Cowling’s Law of Mass Communication class was different from any of the journalism courses I’d taken at UW-Oshkosh. It wasn’t a 200-person lecture like the Introduction to Journalism class and it wasn’t a 15-student, hands-on class like Writing for the Media. Instead it was a mid-sized lecture of about 30 journalism students, all of which were not taking the course by choice, rather by requirement for a journalism degree.

I took this course during the Fall 2010 semester as a requirement for my journalism major, and despite my initial apprehension of learning about laws and regulations of journalism and communications, I soon found the class to be interesting and full of necessary information.

While the information I was absorbing wasn’t that of grammar or following the correct AP writing style, it all tied into journalism and what a journalist should be. Professor Cowling taught us everything from the American legal system to obscenity laws and what is considered erotic material. Libel, copyright, limits of expression and free press-fair trial are just a few examples of other topics discussed in the course.

Professor Cowling conducted his lectures mainly with PowerPoint presentations that followed the required course book, Mass Media Law. We were also given articles relevant to topics we were learning and also had to do a group presentation. For the presentations, three or four people were assigned a topic to research and then present to the class the next week. Some of the included grand juries, executive privilege and systems and laws specific to Wisconsin. Several legal cases were also discussed, which helped put what I learned into real-life perspective.

One of my favorite times in the class was discussing the topic of erotic material. To help make the topic more relevant to us, Professor Cowling pulled out an issue of the student newspaper, The Advance-Titan, where I work as the news editor. In this particular issue, the front-page story was about a former Playboy Playmate who was on campus to discuss her life with HIV. The graphics for this story were pink and spelled out HIV with the V symbolizing the ears of the Playboy Bunny. Across the top of this colorful headline was a naked photograph of the former Playboy Playmate – a photograph that I airbrushed and edited to make what I thought was appropriate to publish.

Professor Cowling proceeded to ask the class if they thought this image was erotic or obscene and shouldn’t have been published. Thankfully for me, the majority of the class ruled the photograph to not be obscene and that the topic of the story made sense for the image to be there. What I did find out, though, is that airbrushing away the butt crack in the photograph of the former Playboy Playmate wasn’t necessary. This day was humorous at the same time as being informational and it’s something I will always remember from this class.

Law of Mass Communications may be a required class, but it is ultimately a really helpful and insightful course. Professor Cowling is incredibly knowledgeable on the topics discussed in this class and he shows that in the way he teaches. My advice is to go into the class optimistic, knowing that what you’re learning is imperative in becoming a journalist.

Commencement is often a bittersweet time for faculty members. It’s a joy to see students complete their four-year (or more) journey and begin the next phase of their lives, but also sad to see people leave who have been a part of our daily lives.

I love commencement, I love the tradition and pomp and circumstance of it all. Everything at commencement represents something. Why do faculty and students wear gowns? Because education is one of the three pillars of any civilization, and gowns are only worn by representatives of these institutions (the other two being the courts and the church). The colors on the hoods represent the wearer’s university of graduation and field of study. Doctoral gowns include fur or velvet. Students wear honor cords to indicate their special effort and achievement in academics or leadership, etc.

Students who do not attend their own commencement often think it will be boring (it’s not), it will be too long (always runs about two hours), and is too early after a night of celebration (can’t do anything about that). But I encourage all current students to plan on it.

The thing is, it is not just the student walking across the stage. Every student has had help. That’s especially true on this campus where many are first-generation college graduates, as I was. Someone along the way – a favorite aunt, a big brother, a parent, a friend – encouraged that student to enroll. When the student walks across that stage to receive the diploma and shake the chancellor’s hand, all those people are walking alongside.

Although Cashman didn’t end up winning the competition, he said being named a finalist was a huge honor.

“When I got the letter saying that I was a finalist I was excited, “Cashman said. “But I knew that there were a lot of other great photographers that would be competing.”

For Cashman, taking photos isn’t just a pastime but a potential career path.

“Photography is mainly a big hobby for me,” he said. “I would go as far to say a passion. I mainly do this for myself but would love to turn it into a business.”

Cashman has already began turning his passion into a business, selling his photos to publications.

“I have done some freelance work and have sold some photos, mainly of wildlife and scenic shots.” he said. “I would like to do some photography in the future mostly in the context of selling prints and freelance work.”

Paul Cashman's photo that placed him as a finalist in the Photographer's Forum Magazine's Amateur Spring Contest.

Photography professor Tim Gleason said he is proud of Cashman’s achievement and hopes he continues to have more success in the future.

“Paul’s recognition is a credit to his ongoing pursuit of what interests him,” Gleason said. “His recognition is proof that if a student goes beyond what most students do, he or she can often succeed.”

Gleason encourages students to take advantage of every situation they are in to capture a unique and interesting picture.

“Students who want to get published and have that work recognized for its merit need to go beyond convenience,” he said. “You want to be asked for a photograph because of your skill and vision, not because you happen to be there.”

Because of upgrades in technology, almost everyone is a photographer now, making it more difficult to become a professional photographer, Gleason said.

“There are a lot of photographers out there,” he said. “Digital photography has made it easy for anyone to take an acceptable photo, so students need to create their own vision for photographing what interests them.”

Gleason advises students to follow Cashman’s example by constantly trying to capture better photos and becoming a more experienced photographer.

“Some students do the minimum, but Paul is not one of them,” Gleason said. “Paul has great potential, and it is important to keep striving for improvement and recognition.”

This Saturday is “A Salute to Hometown Heroes,” an event highlighting local firefighters, police officers, paramedics and rescue workers.

The event was created by Journalism instructor Grace Lim after being inspired by local heroes while creating a documentary about airboat rescue volunteers. Lim, along with two Radio-TV-Film students, created a short film about a family from Poygan, Wis. who have been saving people from the freezing waters of Lake Poygan with their own airboat for the past 30 years. The movie, “Airboat Rescue 1: When the Ice Breaks,” will have its world premiere at “A Salute to Hometown Heroes.”

Photo illustration by Shawn McAfee.

The free event will also have raffles, Music students performing pieces from the “Airboat Rescue 1″ soundtrack, presentations from Rep. Gordon Hintz and Sen. Randy Hopper, and more.

The Admissions Office at UW Oshkosh is seeking an Advertising/PR Specialist as a marketing/design and special events assistant. The student would work with media relations and special programs staff in Admissions to design print and electronic media (fliers, postcards, posters, visually enhanced emails, etc…) to support Admissions-sponsored events. Additionally, the student will assist in planning and execution of programming events.

This S.T.E.P. opportunity potentially could be eligible for academic credit through approval of enrollment in Interdisciplinary Studies 399 or an internship associated with an academic department at UW Oshkosh. The student hired for the position will be responsible for coordinating approval of any academic internship credit associated with the position.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Qualifications:

1. Experience working with advertising, copy, layout and design.
2. Demonstrated experience and creative competency in using Microsoft Office applications, specifically Publisher and PowerPoint.
3. Experience developing and implementing social media.
4. Ability to take the initiative in completing projects.
5. Flexibility to work a variable schedule of up to 10 hours of daytime availability per week.
6. Motivation to meet assigned project deadlines.
7. Strong organizational skills.
8. Ability to work independently as well as in a team atmosphere.
9. Strong communication skills in person and in writing.

When I heard that Abby Gutowski, a public relations and social media manager at Weidert Group in Appleton, was coming to my Principles of Public Relations class, I was thrilled. She planned to discuss “PR 2.0” – how social media is changing the way we practice public relations, and how we can use it to engage our publics more effectively. Our class was already live-tweeting as we awaited for her arrival when Tom Hanaway, social media intern (and Abby’s escort for the day), announced to Professor Hansen via Twitter:

tomhanaway: @sameplane, the eagle has landed. @abbyweidert has been located. Escorting to Clow rendezvous point. Mission is a go. #uwoshpr

Tweets went flying.

As we welcomed her into our classroom both physically and via the Web, she set up her Prezi and got down to business. Abby encouraged us to continue tweeting while she spoke, allowing us to share her PR expertise with the rest of the world. Here, in all of their glory, are the main points that our class pulled out of Abby Gutowski’s presentation via the Twitter hashtag #uwoshpr:

kelseypilling: Being constantly connected to social media makes for a successful PR practitioner #uwoshpr

MelissaMoehn: 45% of journalists visit corporate blogs and 25% visit Facebook when writing a story #uwoshpr

justinniles: The media doesn’t have to cover your story anymore with PR 2.0, says @abbyweidert #uwoshpr

KaydeKempen: PR 2.0 allows you to interact with the public directly instead of going through the media, giving the public info faster #uwoshpr

justinniles: Realize that PR practitioners can do much to influence events before they happen and, in some instances, to avert crises altogether. #uwoshpr

sammstrong: I guess I need to start a blog… #uwoshpr

Beyond the extra Twitter practice, Abby Gutowski’s presentation forced us to look at what public relations has become and realize how it is continuously evolving. This ain’t your mama’s PR. The industry has officially been upgraded.